At the weekend we will be going to buy our laminate flooring for the living room/dining room/hallway. Any body got any ideas where the best places are to look? I have seen one at Ikea, that is a dark oak colour, and it is around £8 per square metre, we don't want to pay much more than this. We need to have a darker colour ranging from oak to walnut in shade, and obviously we don't want to be changing in the next 5/6 years so we would want the best quality we can get for the price. The thing that puts me off Ikea is the fact that we will have to go in that 'people farm' they call a shop!!! I can't stand the place!!!

Has anyone had good experiences with their laminate floors?

I know all about not letting puppies run around on hard floors BTW, we will be very carefull :D

Hi again Natalie!

Can't offer help of where to buy it - all I can say is mine was a pain in the butt when we had it - I thought it'd be easy to clean but hell no!  I prefer a carpet and a hoover!!  But have fun looking, I'm sure your room will look fab!! :D

You are the first person I have ever heard slating the practical side of laminate!! My Mum has it through out her whole house and loves it, and I thought with the new puppy coming, it will help with toilet training messes! Also my son loves to paint - which is why we have to change the floor, it used to be a lovely dark green, now it is blue in places with a bit of red mixed in :D The little b*gger!!

Ah, well you see when I first had laminate I didn't have a dog!!  Now I could see it's benefits, but I've had the carpet down for a while now and I love it!!  I can see the practicalities of having it when you have animals, but it just got so dusty for me and was a pain to clean!!

We had some in our old house, and the only thing that ever happened to it was it bubbled up after I washed it, but they now guarentee against this so that shouldn't be a problem this time :D

My mum, who for once in her life is with out animals, except four goldfish(!) says she hovers it about once a week, and just sweeps it with a soft brush once a day. That doesn't sound bad to me, in fact a major improvement on what I do for the carpet!

We've got laminate, quite a bit more expensive than you want to pay but my pups have been fine on it, I think if it's there from the start they get used to it, even my adults haven't slipped, but I did get one with a type of grain to it, so not as slippery as some of the cheaper versions.  Just remember you only get what you pay for ;-)

I only like the ones with a grain on it, I couldn't handle it being too slippery! Also it is really shiney if it is just flat, and then you can't see the colour of it!

mine has a grain in it, I got a professional guy to do mine and it does look good when its just been washed but with two dogs and two cats there are always marks on it, and the fluff gathers in the corners I couldnt be without it though, its so easy to clean, I only have two carpets in my house and both have been ruined by the animals :(

I must be quite lucky -Toby only messes in the kitchen, even when he has the run of the house.  Of course, I'm not bloody lucky that he messes, but that's another story! :rolleyes:

We have got carpets going up the stairs and all the way through upstairs, but the kitchen floor is tiles so I thought since, especially at first, the pup won't be up stairs (Up stairs will be the cat's domain until she learns to share the living room with the pup!!) It would be a good idea to get the floors done before we get him, so I won't have to run around after him clearing up MY mistakes! Hopefully there will NOT be ANY mistakes, but I am still planning for them! ;) With having my little boy, I need to know I can safely disinfect the area, and dry it, so we're not trawling wet patches all through the house. Also I don't want the smell in my house :(

Hi,

We are due to have laminate put down in the hallway, living room, dining room and 1 bedroom upstairs. I've had it in the past and although I would say it's harder to keep clean than a carpet (because everything just sits on top) - it's far more practical and hygienic. Especially when you have 2 dogs and 4 cats! lol.

We are getting ours from Floors To Go - we have a store near us but they have a website too www.floors2go.co.uk

They have a big selection of laminates in all sorts of prices; some family members have bought from them in the past and have had no problems.

Hope that helps,

Rox :)

Thanks Rox there is one down the road a bit so will look there - anywhere but IKEA!!!

Natalie, I don't think there is any laminate that is guaranteed against bubbling. It is MDF under near or chipboard BOTH soak water up and swell.

You have to clean with a damp cloth or mop type thing only.  Even the news ones are the same.

The grainy ones are also still slippy.

Ikea and Howdens I believe seem to be both Ok. My Oh have fitted them for a few people.

I don't think bubbling will be a problem anyway, our old one was in the kitchen and so the floor was always getting splashed on and of course you always tend to mop the kitchen floor with more water, whereas in the rest of the downstairs, it shouldn't get too dirty, just as everyone else has said, dusty. So hopefully it won't cause a problem.

I don't have a problem with Ikea products, just the way you have kill people to get in the store!!! And everyone (customers) are so rude barging past you with out as much as an apology, hubbie and I always have an argument when we go, he wants to look round at everything, and I want to go!!! Don't get me wrong I LOVE shopping normally but Ikea just annoys me!

I have had laminate flooring in my previous house from Ikea and have to say it is the best laminate flooring we have ever had.  The one in our dining room in our current house was £52 per pack (1.6m) and is absolute rubbish.  The other thing with the Ikea flooring is they do tend to have more per pack than most shops. 

Michelle :)

Yes we noticed the pack size was different. I think I might just send hubbie in and he can go and get it, but I will take all of my dog books with me, because he will be in there all day! I really like the flooring so might just bite the bullet and get there as early as poss!

Have you considered getting Ikea to deliver it for you?

Sometimes it can be worth the delivery charge when you consider petrol, time, lunch... not to mention the 'extra' bits you always end up buying lol.

:)